A used Inspire 100AZ is a nice scope, but if it’s not taken care of well, its many plastic parts could cause irreparable damage if it’s not kept up. Barring that, however, a used Inspire 100AZ will be fine if you can get it for a reasonable price-our recommendation is to never pay more than 80% of the new cost for a new telescope, eyepiece, or piece of astronomical gear. Alternative Recommendations

Refractors have been in use for centuries, the original design came from Galileo Galilei in the 1600s.

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Setting up the telescope is a breeze and will have you observing in no time. Even on your first time out, you can assemble the telescope and its accessories in just a few minutes. There is no extra tray to attach to the tripod as it is built in. The adjustable tripod legs allow you to customize the telescope’s height or place it on raised surfaces like a picnic table. The integrated flashlight fits in the mount to illuminate the tripod tray, so you can easily find your accessories. The total telescope kit is perfect for impromptu observing sessions or transporting wherever life’s adventures take you.

Red LED flashlight - Stowed in the center of the mount head, the flashlight can be used to gently illuminate the accessory tray or can be removed for use as a spotlight when needed. Stars examined through the Inspire 100AZ retained good shapes up to almost 80% of the field of view. The Inspire 100AZ uses an achromatic refractor lens, which is fully coated meaning it’ll be able to provide a crisp and detailed view of space whilst decreasing issues with aberration , provided you don’t go beyond it’s capabilities but, it also has a few shortcoming due to how the achromatic lens is designed. It's worth noting that because of its rather unusual hood design the Celestron Inspire 100AZ can't take solar filters, so should never be used to observe the Sun. Should you buy the Celestron Inspire 100AZ telescope? Place the new CR-2032 battery, positive (+) side up, under the two copper battery clips at the front of the battery compartment.The Orion SkyQuest XT6 has a 2” single-speed Crayford focuser, double the light gathering power, and 50% more resolving power than the Inspire 100AZ, mounted atop a full-sized and sturdy Dobsonian mount which requires neither a table nor tripod to be used. Other 6” f/8 Dobsonians are also available if you are unable to obtain an XT6.

The included Celestron Starry Night Software provides resources and knowledge to help you observe our solar system and thousands of other celestial objects. The software will allow you find out information about the best celestial objects to view based on your time and location. A used Inspire 100AZ is a nice scope, though if poorly maintained, it’s very possible the scope could have irreparable damage thanks to its multitude of plastic components. Barring that, however, a used Inspire 100AZ will be fine if you can get it for a reasonable price-our recommendation is to never pay more than 80% of the new cost for a new telescope, eyepiece, or piece of astronomical gear. Alternative Recommendations At the heart of the Celestron Inspire 100AZ Refractor Telescope is a large 100mm objective lens, while there is a choice of two supplied 10mm and 20mm eyepieces providing a magnification of 33x and 66x respectively. A bonus here is a fully integrated smartphone adapter that will allow users to get up and running with some astrophotography from the get go. With fully coated glass optics, the Celestron's relatively short tube allows for a wider field of view, thus making it suited to finding both large and faint deep sky objects.The 1.25″ star diagonal that comes with the Inspire 100AZ is also mostly made of plastic. It has an Amici erecting prism design, which makes sure that the images are correct both left to right and up to down. Unless you plan on frequently reading signs and snooping on people’s reading material from a distance, this feature is essentially worthless and comes at a cost, too. Due to the way it works, any Amici erecting prism produces annoying bright spikes, glare, and additional chromatic aberration on bright targets—which doesn’t help when there are already glare issues with the dew shield and chromatic aberration from the objective lens itself to begin with. The 1.25” star diagonal included with the Inspire 100AZ is also mostly plastic, and the design is an Amici erecting prism, which provides correct images both left-right and up-down. Unless you plan on frequently reading signs and snooping on people’s reading material from a distance, this feature is essentially worthless and comes at a cost, too. Due to the way it works, any Amici erecting prism produces annoying bright spikes, glare, and additional chromatic aberration on bright targets – which doesn’t help when there are already glare issues with the dew shield and chromatic aberration from the objective lens itself to begin with. The Celestron Inspire 100az combines premium components, quality material and great fully multi-coated optics for a reasonable price. It comes with 100mm Aperture (3.94″), a 660mm Focal Length and a f/6.5 Focal Ratio. This is great specification for a beginner or even an intermediate who is looking for a portable and easy to use telescope. When focused, the 100az will deliver high quality images of the Moon, the Planets of the Solar system and some DSO’s (Deep sky Objects) including the Andromeda Galaxy. If you are considering the Celestron Inspire 100az, then its good to know the features that make a great Refractor. Here are the main three: Aperture: While it could not be considered an essential accessory, the Celestron further provides a red LED flashlight that is stowed in the centre of the mount head when not in use and can be used to illuminate the contents of the accessory tray when required, or alternatively used as a spotlight.

For medium magnification, which might be overkill, a 15mm gold-line is a good option. It will provide 44x with the Inspire 100AZ, which is good for viewing a lot of moderately sized deep-sky objects. The SVBONY 15mm 70-degree is a bit more comfortable, sharper, and offers a wider field of view, and the 15mm Agena Starguider is also a great choice if you’re willing to put up with the expense. The Popular Science by Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 100AZ uses the same optical tube and includes the same accessories as the Inspire 100AZ, but with an improved alt-azimuth mount that has slow-motion adjustments – further aided by Celestron’s StarSense Explorer technology to make aiming the telescope even easier. Although your smartphone camera already has a lens and therefore can’t be used at prime focus, light collected by the telescope can be projected into your phone’s camera by an eyepiece in a process known as afocal photography.As well as the 20mm and 10mm Kellner eyepieces supplied, there’s a 90° erect image diagonal included, meaning the telescope is also suitable for terrestrial observations. The Smartphone Adapter is another highly impressive feature of the 100az. It enables you to connect your smartphone to your telescope (as long as it is wielding a an eyepiece with an outside diameter of 45mm or smaller – like those included). Once the Zygo test report has been completed, the optical alignment is thoroughly tested and tuned to ensure they are spot on before they leave us. The StarPointer Pro red dot finderscope, StarPointer Pro eyepieces (20mm and 10mm), 90° erect image diagonal, integrated smartphone adapter, and red LED flashlight are all included with the Inspire 100AZ. Not compatible with #93648 Off-Axis Guider, not compatible with #93519 2" Mirror Diagonal (discontinued)